Fun and Games

As some of you already know, I have been working on another story for the Sunday Herald-Palladium Focus page the past couple of weeks. Here it is. I wrote the sidebar on the left as well as the crossword puzzle in the middle of the page. When I pitched the idea to the features editor, I thought building the puzzle was going to be the hardest part, but it wasn't. The hardest part was researching and writing the clues for the puzzle.

I started by researching the 35 schools that have won the NCAA tournament, and I wrote a set of clues that I refer to as "ESPN expert level." If I hadn't researched them, I wouldn't have gotten quite a few of them. In hindsight, they would have been for only the most dedicated NCAA basketball fans. So I rewrote the clues before turning them in to the editor. They were still pretty hard, but were more doable. I took them into the office to see if they would still be too hard. I had a few people try the puzzle. The features editor and the person who designed this page, both women, thought they were still too difficult. Another paginator in the office, a guy who loves sports, really liked them.

Originally, I wanted the puzzle to appeal to primarily sports fans and secondarily crossword puzzle lovers. But after writing a third set of clues that were more general public friendly, I'm happy that I did. I think more people will try the puzzle now that they will be able to answer some of the clues.

SPOILER ALERT BELOW

Here is the bottom portion of the jump page, which had the solution to the puzzle, for those of you who live out of state. So when you're out and about today, make sure you pick up a copy of The Herald-Palladium, fill out my crossword puzzle and get excited about March Madness.